LOS ANGELES (RNS) Lydia Lopez was demonstrating in a picket line in 1968 to support Mexican American educator and activist Sal Castro, who was removed from the classroom after participating in the historic student walkouts, when UCLA professor Juan Gómez-Quiñones told her of a party at the Church of the Epiphany.
Lopez loved parties so she decided to go. The Episcopal parish, located in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Lincoln Heights, was embellished with
papel picado. Lopez could hear mariachis playing. She recalled being overwhelmed with emotions as she saw how a place of worship embraced her Mexican American identity.